Short and bittersweet...

I just couldn't leave Kenya without a final update of some kind. We had a wonderful safari August 1-3 in the Masai Mara. We saw so many beautiful animals including hundreds of thousands of migrating wildebeasts. I took lots of pictures to share, but John accidentally deleted my entire memory card and I hadn't backed anything up - good (but painful) lesson for me. Luckily, Lauren has a much better camera and was able to get hundreds of great pictures.

We arrived home Friday night hot and dirty from the 6 hour drive and I went to bed early. I awoke in the night to violent shaking and chills (the bed was slapping against the wall) which I couldn't stop. That led to vomiting and diarrhea - turns out I had malaria. I began treatment Saturday morning and was very worried about not being able to make my flight home Wednesday. The weekend passed in a blur of high fever, sweats, chills, and headaches. When I woke up this morning, I felt like a new (but very weak) person and even managed a shower.

While I've been in the bed or on the couch, the rest of the team has been painting at the LCC, finishing shoe purchases at Bata (we also got each LCC staff member a gift certificate there), hosting an appreciation luncheon for the most recently hired staff, and playing with/holding kids. Tomorrow is our day of goodbyes which will be very sad. We're stopping by Pat Dixson's in the morning and will spend the afternoon hours at the orphanage with the kids. Our flight leaves early Wednesday morning, so this will be my last post for this trip.

Thanks for all of the love, support, and prayers.